Seven degrees. Notes from a month in the winter Atlantic

In January 2026, the water along the Ericeira coast averaged seven degrees. That is not arctic. It is Hamburg in April. But it is cold enough that you feel it, every single time. I went in two or three times a week, sometimes before work, once at lunch. No Wim Hof routine, no breathing technique, no four minutes on a stopwatch. Simply: in, stand for two minutes, out, dry off, get on with the day. What changed: my relationship to cold days. If I stand once a week in seven-degree water for two minutes, I am no longer cold in the kitchen in November. What did not change: anything measurable about my metabolism. I measured nothing. I just did it, for a month, and I can say this: it was easier than anything I had promised myself it would be.